The timer mechanic in The Blood of Dawnwalker was originally stricter, but developer Rebel Wolves adjusted it based on pre-release player concerns, according to game director Konrad Tomaszkiewicz.
Tomaszkiewicz stated in an interview with Eurogamer that the team recognized the potential for the timer to be a problem for players. "We had at first a more restricted time where it was harder to beat the game, but after all of those voices, before release even, we knew that it can be a problem and we rebalanced it this way to give the buffer for the people to not fear this," he explained.
The prologue of the game retained its original time mechanic to provide players with a clear experience of what to expect. However, the main game's timer was altered out of fear that players would find it too restrictive. Tomaszkiewicz noted that the original version was "quite" restrictive, but the developers ultimately aimed to "give the player the proper feeling and proper emotions in the main story. This is the purpose of the main story, not to create a challenge for it."
He also elaborated on why advancing skills consumes in-game time. Tomaszkiewicz reasoned that without this mechanic, players might resort to repetitive grinding of enemies to gain skill points, potentially bypassing much of the game's intended content and rushing to defeat the antagonist, Brencis, early on.